Introduction
You only need a bowl with assorted things and something where you can store the sorted things. When sorting with the hand is getting too simple, you can add a tool to make this exercise more interesting.
Corn and pompoms
- Pompoms, wooden eggs, lady bugs, flowers
- Sand and water table
- Tools of all kinds (cup, bottles, funnel, spoon, coffee scoop, sugar tongs)
- dyed corn
Corn has a cold and smooth touch and therefore offers a good contrast to the warm and soft pompoms
Seven times sieving
- Polenta, Quinoa, Amaranth or something similar
- Sand and water table
- treasures: glass gems, letter beads, lady bugs, flower, ...
- Sieve and spoon
When I sorted out the kitchen cupboards I found several packages that had gone past their use by date: quinoa, amaranth, polenta …together with a few treasures, a sieve and a shovel it is a real adventure.
Polenta, quinoa and amaranth have usually the same temperature as your skin and are a little rough; many kids find them more pleasant than sand.
Colored pasta treasures
- colored pasta
- Sand and water table
- treasures: acrylic diamonds, acrylic flowers
- spoon, bowls, tongs and a Ice cube tray
You can also add a few strings for threading
Pasta feels the same temperature as the skin and is either smooth or a little rough, depending on the type of pasta.
Christmas bin
- colored rice
- Sand and water table
- Christmas decoration
- Spoon, bowl, tongs
We also opened two teabags of wonderful smelling christmas tea and blended it together with the rice. Furthermore we mixed in cinnamon and aniseed - smells wonderful when digging around.
Rice has a little cool touch and is smooth unless the pointy, often sharp ends.
Pure treasures
- Sand and water table
- Treasures: acrylic diamonds, acrylic flowers, glass gems - everything that glitters
- Spoons, bowls, tongs and a Ice cube tray
Praline moulds made of silicon are very suitable for sorting.
There are different tactiles experiences depending on which treasure is found - from cold and smooth to rough and warm
Nature bin
- chestnuts, cones, acorns
- Sand and water table
- acrylic flowers
- spoons, bowls, tongs
Chestnuts stay in best condition when you polish them with a soft cloth after you collect them and then let them dry on a tray (airing cupboard works very well)
Treasures from nature offer a broad spectrum depending on the season for tactile, olfactory and visual stimuli.
Tips, tricks and modifications
A paddling pool as a sensory box is especially interesting for smaller children - they are more able to reach the interesting things and the content will not be spread throughout the whole flat - bigger children may also find it interesting as they can experience the filling material with their whole body.
There are almost no limits of fantasy concerning the filling material. Everything that you need to know about the different materials you find in a short material science.
While digging and playing of course some of the items might fall on the floor. Two strategies have helped us: Placing a blanket underneath or offering the sensory box in a paddling pool. Furthermore we made it clear that the sensory box will be tidied away immediately when the filling material is not being used for as it should, for example when it gets spread outside of the box.